Meet the Mortis
by DeeP ci
Summary: There's a new kid in town! When a 15 yr old girl and her dad move to Amity Park because of work-related issues, she finds herself tossed into a world where the logic and reason she trusts so much is thrown out the window- a world full of ghosts! JustB4PP
1. Chapter 1

_They couldn't possibly find me here!_

_I faltered as I reached a dead end. I was gasping for air..._

_It took me a moment to realise that I was being silly, letting my human instincts get in the way._

_I rolled my eyes, 'duh.' I didn't need to breathe and I could walk through walls._

_Failing to see why I should wait around any longer—I could hear shouting now—I ran straight through the wall…_

…_And stopped breathing._

_What I saw wasn't what I expected, but then again I didn't know really what I had been expecting._

_Well, even so, it definitely wasn't this!_

_And everything swirled and the floor disappeared beneath me feet..._

_Worse… I think I screamed…_

I woke up with a jolt; these dreams were getting worse… more frequent, more freaky… and far too familiar.

Maybe it was just my nerves playing up again. After all, we'd just moved to a supposedly haunted town... yippee.

I sighed as I slipped out of bed, looking out the window at my new neighbourhood. Amity Park, I think it was called?

And why did someone have a huge pile of junk on their roof anyway? I mean, who needs sixty-four billion satellite devices on their roof? I doubted that I was off by much. It really did look like they had a lot of junk up there...

According to the, err, great big sign it was the "Fenton Works".

Not that I cared. I looked up into the sky with a yawn. It was barely daybreak.

Grumbling about… something—I don't really remember—I headed to the bathroom and quickly showered. I was just glad my dad slept through everything, so I didn't have to worry about waking him up with the water running through the too-long pipes.

I quickly dried off and opened my wardrobe. It was my first day of school so I wanted to leave an impression, not be just another kid. Individuality... I could handle that.

I just picked out a pair of comfy underwear, not like I cared about that. After all, nobody but me was going to see it. Or at least I freaking hoped so.

I grabbed a pair of greying and slightly torn skin-tight black jeans. They had six pockets but it wasn't like I would use them anyway... and how they figured you needed six pockets was beyond me.

With very little thought, I grabbed a light olive-teal tank top and slipped it on. It was covered in coffee and tea stains, each bringing back memories. All of them treasured...

Next up was a rich sky blue tunic of sorts, it had long sleeves that passed my thumbs and the torso went down to just a couple of inches above my knees. The neck was bunched purposefully around my shoulders, showing just my neck and where it joined my collar bone.

I felt it would go well with my grey-blue eyes... Fine. That was a lie, I was bored. So there.

Then I slipped on a pair of old, but comfortable grey socks and a pair of black, grey and blue heavily worn running shoes. It was either those or some hardly touched black 'devil heels' as I called them. High heels give me sore feet and hurt my spine like someone was sticking a spear into the small of my back. Odd analogy, I know, but it serves its purpose.

I then shut the second largest piece of furniture in my room—still referring to the wardrobe—and grabbed a small chain off my desk. It was s silver necklace with two charms on it.

At first glance one might mistake it for an army dog tag, but it was anything but. It had a silver crescent moon charm, with a flip-able sun/star charm set within it; one side representing a solar eclipse, the other the midmorning sun. The other was a small, flat piece of silver about the size of a standard zipper... thing—the piece that you open/close the zip with—with the word 'Dee' engraved on it in a flowing, simple font.

You see, this charm is very special to me...

"MITCHY! YOU UP?" shouted a voice from downstairs as I fastened the chain around my neck, quickly hiding it away from sight. I'll tell ya later... I have business to attend to.

"YEAH I AM," I shouted back. My dad was not, shall we say, a quiet person.

"YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE SOON!"

Duh. I already knew what he was going to say next...

"AND WE HAVEN'T HAD BREAKFAST YET!"

More accurately, he was just pointing out he hadn't had breakfast yet. I was the only one in the house who could cook... well, without setting the house on fire and causing very, very bad things to happen.

Believe me, if my dad starts to cook, head in the other direction. Very quickly.

I quickly looked in my mirror and realised I hadn't dried my hair yet. I sighed at the dark brown-black mess of hair limply dangling around my head and face. I didn't bother with the towel part. I just placed my hands firmly on the table and shook my head in a way that would have made most people dizzy. I was skilled in the art of air-drying my hair.

In the mirror, now covered in water droplets there was little improvement in my hair's condition. It wasn't limp… it was the exact opposite. All my hair stood up in that gravity-defying way, aside from the hair at the very top and my fringe, which was just contrary to the status quo of my hair world.

My hair is wild, and I hate it. I can't comb it, I can't tame it. The only time it even vaguely seems to pay attention is when it's soaking wet!

But I wasn't going to let my day be ruined my hair, but then again... maybe worrying about hair would take my mind off the nerves slowly but surely threatening to attack.

I rushed downstairs before dad could yell at me again, and quickly made him breakfast. It consisted of four eggs, four pieces of toast and eight pieces of bacon. I just ate an apple thoughtfully. I'd packed my bag the day before and had very little idea on what to expect.

Dad and I talked very little, he was pretty much too busy wolfing his breakfast down. After he finished he drove me to school and took me into the principal's office. I felt very... strange starting at a new school. All over again, it seemed I would have to earn my place. Or let my rep in this town die trying.

Ah well, that's high school for you.

This was the first time I'd actually met the principal of Casper High, she was thankfully not as bad as I had feared. She just asked me a few questions about my interests and such, noted I had good grades in art, history and science and bad grades in math. I had been to a school where creative arts were held in pretty high esteem, and that was how I had kept myself safely in the middle of the Social Food Chain, see?

She then seemed to nod off, thinking. It was for barely a second and I knew dad would have missed it.

She then smiled. "Ok, Ms. Mortis. I think I know who I can buddy you up with for the time being."

And deep down I hoped it wouldn't be someone who thought more about glamour and shopping for shoes than anything else. My dad then smiled, "Great!" He slurred the 'Gr' making it sound like a growl of sorts. "I'll see you later then Mitchy!"

"See you this afternoon, Mr. Mortis," said the Principal in farewell. She then turned to me. "Ok, if you'll just follow me, Ms. Mortis."

"Please, just call me Manna," I said taking a deep breath and closing my eyes for a second, fighting back the growing unease in my stomach.

She smiled kindly, and led me out of the office. And for some reason I really, really felt like tacking on the words 'to my doom.'

We reached a classroom filled with bored students, most not listening to the teacher reading out Shakespeare and telling them to pay attention. The Principal knocked on the door... I can't remember her name, sorry...

The teacher stopped in his tracks and a few of the students even took notice.

The Principal cleared her throat and the mind-wandering students snapped hastily to attention with looks on their faces like 'yes I was listening this whole time'.

"This," she said gesturing to me, "is Michanna Mortis. She's a new student-" Obviously, I thought "-starting today in your class." She was speaking mainly to the students than the teacher and I was certain he had been given some forewarning. But by the looks on th- uhh, I mean, my new classmates, I was someone who had appeared out of the blue.

I knew they were already forming their own first impressions of me, and I them. I noticed that a few didn't seem so surprised on my appearance, or even interested.

The principal also continued and added, "I assigned Samantha to show her around the school and it's grounds. But I want you all to make her feel welcome here." The last part was said with a fire I had no idea the lady possessed. I felt a certain respect for the lady. She then turned to me and told me to go and sit in the empty seat, quietly adding in hushed tones, "The Goth is Samantha by the way. And come to my office if you have any troubles. Have fun!"

She said the last line to the class and departed, leaving me to wander to the spare seat next to Samantha. The teacher said, "I am Mr. Lancer, and welcome aboard," before continuing on with reading to the class.

All the buzz in the air dulled and the whole class slipped into the bored and uninterested state. As I sat next to her, I saw she was sitting next to a scruffy-looking kid with blue eyes and next to him a dark-skinned kid with a glasses and a red hat.

"I'm Sam," she said in hushed tones.

"Call me Manna," I said back, just as quiet.

"Not going to pay attention to your very first lesson," asked the black-haired scruff. He seemed mildly miffed and I couldn't help but wonder why.

I stretched my neck and shrugged, "Nah, I know every word off by heart."

They looked at me with raised eyebrows. "What? My... mom used to read it to me all the time... and thoroughly telling me not to get myself in a situation like that."

I smirked at the last part and stared at my hands. "She could be pretty strange at times... but she always had a good reason for everything."

I frowned and went quiet. Those wounds still hurt...

"My name is Danny," said Scruffs, uhh, Danny.

The other boy obviously decided this was his queue to speak, "And I am Tucker Foley-"

But I cut him off, "Wait."

He looked like he was about to object, but at that moment the teacher stopped reading and looked up at his class. He closed the book deftly and placed it on the table. "For a bit of revision I want you to try and correctly answer the questions on this sheet," he said holding up a multiple-question worksheet. "The revision is on the story of Romeo and Juliet, and I've only read it to you, say, four or five times by now, so let's see what you've absorbed."

He pointed to a geeky red-head and told him to pass out the sheets to everyone. He noted that he would test me as well, just to see what I knew. I didn't object.

After all, it was a breeze. I was the first to finish but I didn't want to hand it in first... Call it what you want, I just didn't want to be the class's freaky Shakespeare-know-it-all-kid. One test I can pass off to everyone else as just a really, really lucky guess. Twice and either I'm lying or a really, really good guesser.

I'll admit I dozed off a bit after I finished the test and handed it in. It wasn't long until class finished and we were moving along. Next was maths class, and to be quite honest I was not very good. I was ok at mental arithmetic but everything else was pretty much just dots and lines to me.

To my complete and utter relief Sam was nice enough to help me with it. "So our Shakespeare Guru is not so good at real world matters and maths?" teased Danny in a very fake posh tone.

"Shut it, Scruffs," I said between gritted teeth, however this just made him grin.

Tucker Foley snickered though, "That's gotta be the first time I've heard someone call you Scruffs."

"Nah, you're forgetting that time in fourth grade..." he said.

"Aah, I remember," said Foley with a knowing smile.

Sam raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

But they just nodded knowingly and she rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

I bit my lip to stop myself from giggling. Maybe this day wasn't turning out so bad after all.

The rest of the day was kind of dull, up until lunch when I found out Danny had an older sister named Jazz.

"So, what's your name?" she asked me.

"Michanna Mortis," I said. "But you can call me Manna."

"Ok, Manna." The then paused, "Mortis... that's odd I think I've heard that word somewhere before..."

I sighed, "Probably. Mortis... Mort."

"Oh! I get it now. Mort, death," said Sam, suddenly getting it.

"Yeah," I said. "You got it..."

Then, without really thinking, I decided upon asking my newfound friends, "Hey, did you know that there's an ancient legend tied to the Mortis family name?"

**BEWARE!  
**~A.S.


	2. Chapter 2

That was pretty stupid. I didn't really know why I did it, it just seemed right. And it wasn't like I believed the legend anyway... what? I'm not stalling! I just... it's just something I remembered... a warning.

They all looked at me with curiosity. "Really?" asked Sam.

"Yep," I confirmed with a nod.

They were quiet for a moment, expectant.

"What? I don't actually... uhh... know the legend," I lied in a convincing, disappointed tone.

"Oh," said Jazz. "Anyway, I have to go now. See you later, Danny!"

"Yeah... bye," said Danny.

They seemed very disappointed that nothing interesting happened during lunch, I hadn't the faintest idea what though. I had been assigned a locker next to Sam's; its previous owner had, luckily, left the school just weeks before.

The rest of the day passed relatively slowly and was pretty dull, so I won't bore you with the details.

I did find out, though, that I lived over the road from Danny.

... Don't be like that, it's news to me.

After school ended, Sam and I exchanged phone numbers, telling me to keep in touch. And on the way home dad asked me lots of questions, like how my day was and if anyone was mean to me and so on. My dad had his flaws, but caring for me too little was not one of them.

When we got home I managed to manoeuvre the conversation away from my day and on to his. He'd started a new job today, but he didn't do a full day's work, he was just shown the ropes. But after today, he would be working on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. From nine to five.

Well, that meant I was going to have two hours free after school most days, and almost all of Saturday to myself so I might as well enjoy it.

But today was different, and I just ended up letting him tell me stories of his school days. I wasn't really listening, but hearing him just talking was kind of restful. I smiled as I listened with my eyes closed.

I then began cooking at five. Dinner wasn't anything super special, just some nachos. I listened to him talk about an old friend of his, and how he'd been the school's best athlete until he broke his leg so bad it would never fully heal. We ate dinner with little chatter, but dad actually managed to stick in a few sentences between mouthfuls.

Something we did do every night though, was vs. each other on the PS3. He won by two kills, but that was the usual. I still had fun with the challenge, though. He was a very skilled player.

After a shower and a quick before-bed snack, I finally got the chance to have a proper sleep... I had _completely_ run out of steam.

I just hoped I wouldn't have any more of those absurd dreams that night...

But, you know, things don't always go according to plan.

_I fell through the void, nothing to grab onto and nothing to slow me down._

_Faster, faster, faster I fell... I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole._

_And when I thought I was going to die I finally slowed to a halt, floating an inch off the ground._

_Ground!_

_The force holding me up disappeared and I was dumped on the sand. I sat up and dusted the clingy stuff of my chest and shoulders. This was not my day. _

_I grabbed my Moon and Sun pendant which had fallen on the sand beside me and quickly put it around my wrist. I had the feeling I had lost something... something important._

_With a frantic fear of having lost it, I looked around wildly._

_There was nothing but sand in one direction and the ocean in the other. _A desert by the ocean?_ How peculiar._

_Then there was the sound of shifting sand behind me, and the sand was moving up and down, like an ocean... and the water was perfectly still._

_Stranger and stranger._

_I saw what I had been looking for and grabbed it, a small leather pouch just lying on the sand._

_Then a giant wolf-mole-kangaroo-thing leapt out of the sand like a dolphin—a flesh-eating dolphin—and leapt for me._

This was the first time I'd had a sequel dream in months. And I didn't see whether I'd been killed by the creature or not. If I had there was no way of another sequel, if not, well...

And—I had no idea my imagination was that good! I'd never seen anything like that creature before, and yet it was so real...

I yawned and got out of bed, automatically going and doing my usual routine. The only difference being today I wore a white long-sleeved shirt under a forest green top with sleeves down to just below my elbows and long grey flared tracksuit pants. I wore the same shoes as yesterday, there was no way I was wearing devil heels to school. Once again I wore my pendants, but I still hid them from sight.

I picked out a photo from my desk... it was of my mom, dad and me.

The funny thing is I'm the black sheep of my family. Mom had luminous white-blonde hair even messier and gravity-defying than mine... and my dad had light blonde-bronze hair before he started going grey. But me? Me, I had to have dark brown-black hair. If I didn't know any better I'd almost think my mom had cheated on my dad. My grandparents all had light hair... but, no. Mom hadn't cheated. And that didn't change the fact I was the odd one out.

Hmph. Enough fussing over my issues.

But... I had trouble putting the picture down... With a defeated sigh I forced myself to let go, and I went down and made breakfast.

That day at school, we spent lunchtime outside. And, oddly enough, there was this... creature. It was sort of like a giant black hawk, with green eyes and grey head, chest and wingtips, while its talons were a poisonous green color.

When it appeared, Danny had a look on his face like he was thinking something along the lines of, 'finally something interesting!'

Then he sort of disappeared... I don't know where he went because I didn't see. But anyway, he was gone.

And was the giant bird... glowing?

It screeched and swooped at some of the students, searching for something. Or someone. It got close to getting a few of them too.

Sam and Tucker were content to just... stay out of harm's way. Like behind a tree, or something.

"Shouldn't we do something," I asked. I wasn't _openly_ freaking out, but I was _inwardly_. Just a little... Ok. Fine... a lot. That was the first time I'd ever seen something like that! Of course I was scared.

You would be too if you saw a giant bird the size of small house trying to make off with some of your fellow students.

At that moment, a grey blur rammed into the bird and knocked it high into the sky. It screamed, or at least that's what it sounded like. I'm sure a window or two broke from that.

The blur turned out to be a teenager with white hair and glowing green eyes... wearing a black and white jumpsuit? And from the waist down it looked like he didn't have any legs, just a wispy tail...

"Hey, Bent Beak! Why don't you peck on someone your own size?" he shouted at it.

I raised an eyebrow. Oh, wonderful. We've all been saved by a floating wisecracker. Brilliant.

The bird hesitated and tilted its head, and I overheard a few of the students mutter things along the lines of, 'It's Danny Phantom!'

Curiously, I asked Sam, "What's going on? What is that thing!"

Tucker and Sam's heads snapped around, and Tucker asked, "You mean you don't know?"

I felt pretty stupid. But, "I don't know what I don't know..."

"Well, you see," began Sam. "That bird is a... umm... ghost. Amity Park get's a lot of ghost attacks, and-"

"That's why people say it's haunted?" I butted in. Rude, yes... but I wasn't thinking.

"Exactly," said the Goth. "There's always one around somewhere."

Tucker spoke next, "And that guy who's fighting the ghost is Danny Phantom."

"Oh?" said I. Sorry, I couldn't resist, hehe.

"Yeah... he's sort of like Amity Park's guardian against the bad ghosts, like this overgrown pigeon," he explained.

With a shrug, I said, "It's technically a hawk, not that it matters..."

"You mean you're not going to dismiss this all as a hallucination?" asked Sam disbelieving my seemingly sudden acceptance of the fact ghosts existed.

I looked at her and said, "Seeing is believing. I think it would be... unwise of me to deny something like this if there's going to be more like it, y'know."

She shrugged as if to say, 'suit yourself.'

The fight was over pretty quickly and the bird sucked into a cylindrical contraption. A few people cheered at the monochrome floaty teen, who then disappeared as abruptly as he came.

I hadn't forgotten Danny had disappeared, but he did come back after a few minutes, as if he'd been there all along.

Boys.

"Did you guys notice that bird was... looking for something?" I asked.

The three exchanged glances, and Sam said, "Maybe it was looking for Phantom?"

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe." But it didn't really look like.

Ok. Recap. Ghosts are something I was never truly expecting to see here, despite the rumours. Who was this Danny Phantom? Why did he look so familiar? Why did his name ring a bell? And what was that birdie looking for?

Not like I could answer those straight away, but they were just some of the things buzzing through my head and pestering me. Like an itch you can't scratch.

The rest of school was much duller than yesterday, it seemed. I almost felt like I _wanted_ another ghost to come in and start attacking people to make things a bit more interesting. But I scolded myself, that's horrible. What if someone got seriously hurt? Then how bad would you feel?

But, even so, I still found I was having a hard time actually getting used to the concept of ghosts existing... It wasn't something one could just convert to overnight or something.

And you know another thing that's freaky? Danny Phantom looks an awful lot like my mom... with the exception of her eyes being more dusty-brown than bright green... But still, it was all very strange.

Maybe that was why he looked so familiar..?

I didn't tell any of them, though. Not yet. I would tell them later when I knew them better. Like how I carelessly mentioned the legend... stupid, stupid!

I didn't know them very well yet, it wasn't wise for me to go and spill family secrets like that... especially when my mom put so much faith into me...

But, MOVING ON!

So during one of the later classes of the day I asked Sam if she was doing anything that afternoon. She thought it over for a moment before she asked me why I was asking.

"I have a couple hours free time after school, that's all," I explained.

The teacher interrupted to ask her a question about whatever it was he was talking about, but apparently she answered satisfactorily because he left her alone after that.

We ended up planning on going to see a movie called 'Deathdream' along with Tucker and Danny. It ran from three-fifteen to ten-to-five, so a ninety-five minute long movie.

And it gave me ten minutes before dad got home.

The rest of the school day snailed by, but when we did get to see the movie it was actually pretty cool. It was something about an orphan child in the middle of a war and her dreams having the answers to saving her hometown, the battlefield, and stopping the war.

Was a pretty interesting story, considering. It wasn't a kid's movie though, lots of people getting blown up and stuff, but a cool movie all the same.

So we said some parting words and I walked home, it only took me a few minutes and I felt like I needed the exercise.

When I got home, I found a note and a box on the kitchen counter. How odd.

The note was from my dad and it read;

_Hey Mitchy,_

_I found this in one of the boxes of mine when I was looking for something._

_It was addressed to you... _

_I've never seen it before, but I thought you should have it all the same._

_Love, __**Dad**_

Ok. This was kind of strange, so I put the note down and focused my attention on the box instead...

It was a light purple-grey color and tied with a silver ribbon. It was indeed addressed to me... but what really shocked, stunned and surprised me the most, was...

That it was... from my mom!

**BEWARE!  
**~A.S.


	3. Chapter 3

I was stunned. Literately I could not move for over a minute, the only real reason I could come up with was that it was some sort of hoax on my dad's part.

Mom was... She was...

There was no way this could really be from her! Could it...?

I checked the clock to my left, hanging by the staircase. I had at least five minutes before dad got home. So I made a snap decision to just chuck the box upstairs onto my bed. I'd mull over it later...

Dad was pretty exhausted after work, but I made no comments. We ate dinner in silence, played just a single round on the PlayStation3, and then he just told me to be in bed by a reasonable hour before having a shower and crashing—literately—into bed.

When dad was tired like this, it was only when he was coming down with something or having a bad day. I hoped it was the latter, even though it made me sad to think of it, the last thing I needed right now was for dad to get sick. Well, maybe not the last thing but pretty close to it, anyway.

It was only Seven-Thirty... So I decided, what the heck, to go and take a walk out to the park or something. I really needed some air.

So I decided on rather unceremoniously grabbing my not-for-schoolbag. Slinging it over my shoulder, I quickly analysed a map I had uploaded onto my cell phone. Then I scribbled a note to dad, 'At park. Be back soon.' before setting off.

The sun hadn't really set yet but it was really quiet. No, not quiet exactly... peaceful was the word. Not many people were there, maybe just three or four...

I let my troubles melt away with the cool breeze as I lounged on a park bench.

Something about the night just... clicked with me. Not pitch black, cloudy nights, but beautiful clear nights where you could see a million stars and more.

It was getting late, and I didn't want to linger.

But then something caught my eye, it was a shiny shard of some sort imbedded in the trunk of a nearby tree.

Closer inspection revealed that it was in fact a triangular clear, silver gem with what looked like a puzzle piece indent on one side. I stared at it for quite a while to be honest. It was the size of my thumbnail, but looked almost as if it might fit into a bigger something...

This got me curious.

It definitely wasn't every day you saw a... a... _whatever-it-was_.

The sun had gone down completely by now... and I was practically alone.

My thoughts flickered to a friend of mine... back from when I used to live with both my dad _and_ my mom.

I grew up in that place... that house and that neighbourhood was my real home. I felt that deep within me ever since I had left, not knowing how the move would affect me.

I wondered if they'd even remember me... it had been so long ago...

But I didn't have time for pondering, as when I thought I'd get some time for my musings there was a truly guttural howl!

_Just brilliant_...

It wasn't unlike the bird from school, only it was a giant lion-slash-wolf. It had a black mane and snaking, fluffy tail that was oddly poufy. It looked around with its gleaming red eyes with a chilling slitted pupil.

Not wanting to draw attention to myself, one of the only three or four people there, I tried to sneak into the bushes.

Somehow I forgot that canines have an excellent sense of smell.

The strange liolf—Lion Wolf—took about four seconds to find me. Really, that was a very _smart idea_.

Gah. I had no choice...

I ran for it.

Angry at my retreat, it roared again and ran after me!

That thing was charging after me!

And. I. Tripped.

I feel so stupid now, I tripped over a small bump in the ground and literately catapulted a whole THREE METERES forward before hitting the ground and sliding _a further two_.

I managed to turn myself around and stare at its looming large jaws as it lunged for me...

That was when something green hit its jaw with a BANG! It roared so LOUD it _HURT!_

Remind me not to do this again anytime soon.

It was the 'Danny Phantom' from earlier... He looked tired and grumpy, with a gleam of defiance in his green eyes...

Sort of like he was saying, 'Too late at night for this... now go away before I beat you to a pulp.'

Hmm...

I realised the liolf was growling at the phantom kid, looking like it was saying something along the lines of, 'you're distracting me from my prey! Your insolence will not go unpunished!'

Maybe I'm tired, that was a bit... dramatically put.

Once again I was snapped out of my thoughts as the liolf attacked Phantom...

...Only to fall through the floating kid—Uhh, teen.

He looked mildly miffed, Phantom, I mean.

Then he hit the liolf in the back just below the shoulder blades with a green beam before sucking it into that metal soup can... thermos... thing.

Phantom yawned loudly and looked at me with his head tilted. 'Do I know you,' said the look on his face.

Suddenly, as if he was hit by lightning, he jolted as if he's realised something. "Uhh," he said before quickly zooming off and turning invisible.

The whole situation screamed 'RANDOM' at me.

But I knew it couldn't be... or at least I thought it wasn't. That was the second tome today those creatures had attacked... and both times they were looking for something.

Aaagh! If only I knew _what they were looking for!_

I was so deep in thought I sat there unmoving for almost half an hour, _at least_. But I eventually snapped out of my stupor and left for home.

Well, sprinted actually. _But that's beside the point!_

Anyway, I raced home but as soon as I reached the door I stopped abruptly and noticed a tired looking Danny Phantom sitting on the Fenton Works roof.

Weren't the Fenton's ghost hunters? I'm sure it wouldn't have been that, well, safe for him up there... after all, town hero or not, he was still a ghost. And I knew that not everyone was that fond of the teen.

Not wanting to attract attention to myself I ended up watching him from my bedroom window. He was there for a while before he stretched, yawned and disappeared...

I didn't see where he went, he turned invisible. Again.

With a sigh I closed my blinds.

You know what? This is beginning to get interesting. I mean, now I'm getting curious about the whole ghost thing.

And there was something nagging me at the back of my mind... the one question to rule them all; "Who Is Phantom?"

Dad had always joked that I'd gotten mom's know-it-all genes. I hated it when he said it... but now I see it's probably pretty close to the truth. I mean, I have this urge all the time to just know everything about anything going on. That's why I can't put a book down unless I can't see straight or I finish it. I want to know what happens next. The light at the end of the tunnel...

I'd been so engrossed in thought that I had forgotten about the gift from 'mom'. I stared at it, sitting there on my bed... inviting me to look inside...

Dar'moot!

I rushed over to it and sat on my bed, staring at it with curiosity. I put it on my lap and opened the lid.

I was surprised when I found two wrapped objects inside.

With wonder, I ran a finger along the top one's paper before gently removing it. Inside was a leather bound book that looked like it had been well loved.

All the loose pages and the insignia carved into its cover made me remember what it was; my mom's old journal.

She'd never let me have this or even sneak a peek at it before! So, naturally, I was stunned by the fact that she just let me... have it. I mean, I used to get in a world of trouble if I was even seen _near_ the bally thing! So, yeah...

Also in the package I found the diary in, was a couple of binder books that I recognised as Visual Arts Diaries. A shadow of a smile played upon my lips. My mom and I had a little... joke... I knew, the moment I looked on the first page of the first VAD that this really was from my mom.

Even if it didn't mean she was... here.

I sighed and placed the books on my bed in one pile and the paper in another beside me. I had one last wrapped present, but this one was rather large and boxy.

Hmm... I wonder...

I lifted it out and my eyes widened _slightly_, it was heavy! Well, heavier than I expected.

That's strange... the package didn't feel very heavy when I first put it on my bed...

Shrugging the thought aside, I placed this new box gift on my lap and removed the wrapping.

Painfully slow, it seemed. I wanted to tear the paper off _SO BAD!_

But I resisted the urge...

So I...

Hehe! You should see your face right about now!

Ok, ok, I'll stop tormenting you! Hahahee!

The paper concealed a slick, silver and black rectangular object with an indent in the shape of the Moon-star insignia on its top. You remember the one? The crescent moon with the sun/star inside it? Either way, I was intrigued.

Then I realised it was a laptop! A centimetre thin laptop!

It took me a moment to realise my jaw was hanging open, and I hastily shut it, glad nobody was looking. The only reason I tell you _now_ is that I got over it. There.

With a feeling of apprehension I shuffled up to a more comfortable spot on my bed and sat with a pillow to my back and placed the laptop on my, well, lap. I tried to open it up, but my attempts proved futile...

Then I remembered the _indent_. It was an indent for a reason, I realised with a jolt.

Hastily I withdrew the Moon-star necklace from beneath my shirt and took it off. I placed the Moon-star charm into the indent and _voila!_ It fit _perfectly!_

I couldn't help it. I grinned.

I grinned like a four-year-old on Christmas day, opening a present filled with chocolate or a new state-of-the-art video game or, heck, maybe even both!

All I can say for sure is that I looked like an idiot.

The laptop popped open. I adjusted the screen gingerly, watching as a small loading bar came up on-screen.

Then a message popped up on the black screen in bold, white text;

**Welcome**

Man, I feel like a geek now. I was, in all honesty, ecstatic.

I pressed the 'Enter' key and a login popup appeared asking me for my name. Sooo, I entered 'Michanna' to see if that would work.

**No Match Found**

Okay... trying again. 'Michanna Mortis'

**No Match Found**

Hum. What if...?

I tried; 'Michanna Jay Mortis'

**Positive Match Found**

_**Collecting Data...  
Processing...  
No Password Recorded...**_

**Fingerprint Recognition Sequence Initiated**

Well... this is odd.

A small panel 'ejected' from the side of the laptop, and I barely managed to stop myself from yelping out in shock. It looked like a touch pad...

I glanced at the screen to see a message flashing at the bottom of the screen.

**Place Right Hand Forefinger on Touch Pad**

So, seeing no reason not to, I complied.

The computer thought about this for a bit, it seemed before coming up with another message. This was becoming a little odd...

**Fingerprint Recognised**

**Welcome, Michanna Jay Mortis**

**Do you wish to start setup process now or wait until next login?**

**Y/N  
**

...I assumed it wanted me to type my answer.

Apparently so, as when I typed 'Y', the computer led me through a personalisation process, letting me chose my screen name and desktop background... among other things...

Why on earth did it want me to confirm my eye colour, anyway?

So after the arduous process was complete, I had a rather nice blue and purple background image, reminding me of an aurora over the night sky. I was lucky enough to see an aurora once... they are breathtaking and it was over far too soon...

My screen name was 'Manna.J.M.'

Yes. I know. _So_ original.

Oddly enough, not many people know my middle name, or that I even have one. Dad knew but I think he's forgotten. After all, it's only _boldly displayed_ on my passport and birth certificate... Sigh...

Some people, I mean, really...

Ehem. Anyway... back on track.

I also managed to discover the computer actually had a sort of AI function. He/she/it was actually quite intelligent and had a rather good sense of humour... he hee!

I managed to find out there was an IM programme that let me talk with either the computer—I think its a 'he' and he likes to be called Namor—or if I want, someone from the outside world. Provided I have internet connection.

But Namor is actually quite good in that sense; he has a built-in wireless modem. And a pretty good one at that!

Namor also had several games and programmes already in his system. I found it intriguing playing chess with him.

...He won, but still... I won naughts and crosses!

Oh, come off it...

Anyway. I realised the time with a jolt. It was... hehe... three in the morning. I hastily said g'night to Namor before turning the laptop off and putting him aside with the VADs and mom's Journal.

I'm going to have to have a look at that later...

But for now...

_Sleeeeeeeep!_

However, just my luck... I dreamt again.

_The harsh wind ravaged the sands around me, churning up a storm. How I had survived this long was a mystery. I shouldn't be alive right now and I knew it._

_Then I remembered I _wasn't_ alive..._

_Why does it have to be like this..? I thought death was supposed to be _peaceful_, not terribly dangerous and... _likethis_._

_I sighed and collapsed. I couldn't take this anymore!_

"_I give up," I breathed, cradling my head in my hands... My quest was hopeless; nothing I was doing was making any difference! All I had done, it seemed, was for nothing! I had destroyed the temple in that battle with Abaddon but still nothing was changing! That fiend was still sending his demons into the human world to eradicate the child..._

_And... I... failed..._

_Hopelessness crushed me. Abaddon couldn't kill me, but my own mind could..._

_It was funny how these things worked out._

_I didn't cry. I couldn't. I didn't scream. My voice was gone. I didn't feel. My emotions were gone now too. I was turning into a hollow shell... my mind grew dim and I saw my body threaten to blink out of existence as it became transparent..._

"_Dear child," said a voice. A fatherly voice that I felt I should know and had known forever... "It would seem the taint has reached you... Come. We have been waiting for you; the Silver Star has arrived at last."_

_I didn't see the voice... but I knew I could trust and love him like he was my own father..._

_I slowly regained my will to exist. _

"_Yes... I guess I have," I said, rising, my eyes closed._

"_Come, child. We have much to discuss..."_

_Then, quizzically, he asked;_

"_You wouldn't happen to have seen a pair of odd socks around, have you?"_

**BEWARE!  
**~A.S.

_Oh, those nasty odd socks; Always trying to get the better of you! :P_

_R&R please~ :)~_


End file.
